Comment: "NSA Cheif Lies About Domestic Spying" (Score 2) 149
Please. Nobody in the post-911 era believes that the government is refraining from spying on American citizens.
What a disgrace.
Comment: Re:Wow (Score 1) 627
A fair assessment.
Comment: Wow (Score 2) 627
It's like a crazy-enclave. I think the easiest way to make these people realize that they are suffering from mental illness or delusional thoughts is to explain to them how many waves and what type pass through them every day, even in a radio-free enclave.
I just don't get this kind of irrational behavior. I think it has to be an illness similar to germaphobia.
Comment: Re:"May cost"?? (Score 1) 591
I would agree.
Useability issues, hostile support community and general lack of hardware support (desktop) all contribute to Linux being an unpopular desktop.
Really, support is the kicker, not acquisition cost. The industry has been turning PC support folks into the equivalent of data janitors for years now, both in prestige and pay. If you are dedicated enough to get *good* at supporting Linux, you are going to get a much-better paying admin job, not keep on schlepping desktops for minimal cash. Supporting Linux desktops creates more costs than it saves in Windows licenses in both ongoing issues (doing business with MS-Office using partners, etc) and cost of support personnel.
The Windows world churns out people good enough to do desktop support constantly. They are easier to find and will accept a smaller compensation package. Some of them are even lifers at desktop support, not good enough for data center admin jobs.
It's too bad really. I would have liked to see a good Linux desktop. For myself, I've always ended up removing any Linux desktops I've installed. I want to do things, not mess with the OS, which is what I end up doing every damn time. Thus, Windows and OSX for me.
Apache Resigns From the JCP Executive Committee 136
Posted
by
timothy
from the I'll-resign-my-commission dept.
from the I'll-resign-my-commission dept.
iammichael writes "The Apache Software Foundation has resigned its seat on the Java SE/EE Executive Committee due to a long dispute over the licensing restrictions placed on the TCK (test kit validating third-party Java implementations are compatible with the specification)."
TSA Pats Down 3-Year-Old 1135
Posted
by
samzenpus
from the security-theater dept.
from the security-theater dept.
3-year-old Mandy Simon started crying when her teddy bear had to go through the X-ray machine at airport security in Chattanooga, Tenn. She was so upset that she refused to go calmly through the metal detector, setting it off twice. Agents then informed her parents that she "must be hand-searched." The subsequent TSA employee pat down of the screaming child was captured by her father, who happens to be a reporter, on his cell phone. The video have left some questioning why better procedures for children aren't in place. I, for one, feel much safer knowing the TSA is protecting us from impressionable minds warped by too much Dora the Explorer.
Officials Sue Couple Who Removed Their Lawn 819
Posted
by
kdawson
from the revenge-of-the-lawn dept.
from the revenge-of-the-lawn dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "The LA Times reports that Orange County officials are locked in a legal battle with a couple accused of violating city ordinances for replacing the grass on their lawn with wood chips and drought-tolerant plants, reducing their water usage from 299,221 gallons in 2007 to 58,348 gallons in 2009. The dispute began two years ago, when Quan and Angelina Ha tore out the grass in their front yard. In drought-plagued Southern California, the couple said, the lush grass had been soaking up tens of thousands of gallons of water — and hundreds of dollars — each year. 'We've got a newborn, so we want to start worrying about her future,' said Quan Ha, an information technology manager for Kelley Blue Book. But city officials told the Has they were violating several city laws that require that 40% of residential yards to be landscaped predominantly with live plants. Last summer, the couple tried to appease the city by building a fence around the yard and planting drought-tolerant greenery — lavender, rosemary, horsetail, and pittosporum, among others. But according to the city, their landscaping still did not comply with city standards. At the end of January, the Has received a letter saying they had been charged with a misdemeanor violation and must appear in court. The couple could face a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine for their grass-free, eco-friendly landscaping scheme. 'It's just funny that we pay our taxes to the city and the city is now prosecuting us with our own money,' says Quan Ha."
App Store Piracy Losses Estimated At $459 Million 202
Posted
by
Soulskill
from the arrr-me-hearties dept.
from the arrr-me-hearties dept.
An anonymous reader passes along this quote from a report at 24/7 Wall St.:
"There have been over 3 billion downloads since the inception of the App Store. Assuming the proportion of those that are paid apps falls in the middle of the Bernstein estimate, 17% or 510 million of these were paid applications. Based on our review of current information, paid applications have a piracy rate of around 75%. That supports the figure that for every paid download, there have been 3 pirated downloads. That puts the number of pirate downloads at 1.53 billion. If the average price of a paid application is $3, that is $4.59 billion dollars in losses split between Apple and the application developers. That is, of course, assuming that all of those pirates would have made purchases had the application not been available to them for free. This is almost certainly not the case. A fair estimate of the proportion of people who would have used the App Store if they did not use pirated applications is about 10%. This estimate yields about $459 million in lost revenue for Apple and application developers."
A response posted at Mashable takes issue with some of the figures, particularly the 75% piracy rate. While such rates have been seen with game apps, it's unclear whether non-game apps suffer the same fate.
Why Should I Trust My Network Administrator? 730
Posted
by
timothy
from the hire-two-and-aim-them-at-each-other dept.
from the hire-two-and-aim-them-at-each-other dept.
Andrew writes "I'm a manager at a startup, and decided recently to outsource to an outside IT firm to set up a network domain and file server. Trouble is, they (and all other IT companies we could find) insist on administering it all remotely. They now obviously have full access to all our data and PCs, and I'm concerned they could steal all our intellectual property, source code and customers. Am I being overly paranoid and resistant to change? Should we just trust our administrator because they have a reputation to uphold? Or should we lock them out and make them administer the network in person so we can stand behind and watch them?"
Murdoch Says, "We'll Charge For All Our Sites" 881
Posted
by
timothy
from the subverting-the-dominant-paradigm dept.
from the subverting-the-dominant-paradigm dept.
Oracle Goddess writes "In what appears to be a carefully planned suicide, Rupert Murdoch announced that his media giant News Corporation Ltd intends to charge for all its news websites in a bid to lift revenues, as the transition towards online media permanently changes the advertising landscape. 'The digital revolution has opened many new and inexpensive methods of distribution, but it has not made content free. Accordingly we intend to charge for all our news websites,' Murdoch said."